Did Early Christians Teach God Is Impassible?
Early Christians taught that God is not changeable, not ruled by passions, and not subject to suffering in his divine nature. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Novatian, and Gregory Thaumaturgus all speak this way, while also saying Christ truly suffered in the flesh. Bible passages often paired with this teaching include Malachi 3:6, Isaiah 40:28, Hebrews 6:18, and 1 Timothy 6:16. The main line of teaching is clear, though a few texts use philosophical wording or focus on Christ’s incarnation.
167 early-church witnesses · 275 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about the Impassibility of God?
Early Christian writers taught that God is not changeable, not ruled by human passions, and not subject to suffering or pain in his divine nature. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Novatian, and others say God is impassible, immutable, and beyond passion, while also making clear that Christ truly suffered in the flesh. The strongest witnesses are the second- and third-century writers, especially Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Athenagoras, Novatian, and Gregory Thaumaturgus.
The evidence is broad and consistent, though some passages use philosophical terms like impassible or passionless and some are focused on Christ’s two natures rather than God the Father alone. Bible passages often cited alongside this teaching include Malachi 3:6, Isaiah 40:28, Hebrews 6:18, and 1 Timothy 6:16. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christian writers often said God is impassible, immutable, and not ruled by passion.
- They also said Christ suffered truly in the flesh, not in the divine nature.
- Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Novatian, and Gregory Thaumaturgus are major early witnesses.
- Bible passages often tied to this teaching speak of God as unchanging, unwearied, and unable to lie.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians teach that God is impassible and unchangeable?
The strongest sources explicitly describe God as impassible, immutable, unchangeable, and incapable of suffering or passion. Several writers present this as a basic feature of God's divine nature rather than a speculative idea.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching
But God is impassible, free of anger, destitute of desire.
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Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Direct teaching
but God is uncreated, and, impassible, and indivisible — does not, therefore, consist of parts.
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Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Direct teaching
4. And now, if, on account of those expressions which occur in the Old Testament, as when God is said to be angry or to repent, or when any other human affection or passion is described, (our opponents) think that they are furnished with grounds for refuting us, who maintain that God is altogether impassible, and is to be regarded as wholly free from all affections of that kind, we have to show them that similar statements are found even in the parables of the Gospel;
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Direct teaching
For who cannot understand that the divinity is impassible, although the human weakness is liable to suffering?
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Hippolytus, Against the Heresy of Noetus Direct teaching
For there is one God in whom we must believe, but unoriginated, impassible, immortal, doing all things as He wills, in the way He wills, and when He wills.
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Dionysius of Alexandria, Miscellaneous Fragments Supporting witness
For then they will have to furnish an explanation of the fact that, though both are supposed to be ungenerated, God is nevertheless impassible, immutable, imperturbable, energetic;
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Lactantius, The Epitome of the Divine Institutes Direct teaching
There is, then, one God, perfect, eternal, incorruptible, incapable of suffering, subject to no circumstance or power, Himself possessing all things, ruling all things, whom the human mind can neither estimate in thought nor mortal tongue describe in speech.
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Hippolytus, Exegetical Fragments Supporting witness
for God is without passion. And by anger you will understand the lesser penalties, and by wrath the greater, and by tribulation the greatest.
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Peter of Alexandria, The Genuine Acts of Peter Supporting witness
For it follows, from its being incorporeal, that it is also impassible and imperturbable.
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
For who cannot understand that the divinity is impassible, although the human weakness is liable to suffering?
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Alexander of Alexandria, Epistles on the Arian Heresy Supporting witness
the impassable suffers and does not avenge its own injury;
How did early Christians explain Christ's suffering if God is impassible?
Several sources explain that Christ truly suffered as man in the flesh while the divine nature remained impassible. This is especially clear in anti-heresy and confession-style texts that warn against saying the divine nature itself suffered.
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Tertullian, Against Praxeas Supporting witness
For the rest, we must needs believe God to be unchangeable, and incapable of form, as being eternal.
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
...he doctrine of the Jews and Christians, which preserves the immutability and unalterableness of the divine nature, is stigmatized as impious, not because it shares in the profanity of those whose notions of God are marked by impiety, but because it says in the supplication addressed to the Divinity, "You are the same." Moreover, it is an article of faith that God has said, "I change not."
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
Whereas the doctrine of the Jews and Christians, which preserves the immutability and unalterableness of the divine nature, is stigmatized as impious, because it does not partake of the profanity of those whose notions of God are marked by impiety, but because it says in the supplication addressed to the Divinity, You are the same, it being, moreover, an article of faith that God has said, I change not.
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness
Wherein among the other divine attributes he moreover ascribes to Him, partly from reason and partly from the Holy Scriptures, immensity, eternity, unity, goodness, immutability, immortality, spirituality;
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness
for that which is created is mutable and alterable, but that which is uncreated is immutable and unalterable.
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Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians Supporting witness
but the Deity is immortal, and immoveable, and unalterable: so that neither is Kronos nor his image God.
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
We show, accordingly, that the holy Scriptures represent God as unchangeable, both by such words as You are the same, and I change not;
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Malachi 3:6 Supporting witness
For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
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Isaiah 40:28 Supporting witness
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
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Hebrews 6:18 Supporting witness
so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
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Hebrews 1:12 Supporting witness
And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
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Hebrews 6:17 Supporting witness
Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath,
More related quotations from this section 12 shown
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
and therefore He is such as He willed that He should be, incapable of suffering, unchangeable, incorruptible, blessed, and eternal.
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Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness
...as we said in the first book. Therefore He is what He willed Himself to be: incapable of suffering, unchangeable, incorruptible, blessed, and eternal.
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness
For whatever it be in Him which constitutes Divinity, must necessarily exist always, maintaining itself by its own powers, so that He should always be God.
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness
Malachi 3:6 in that, what is not born cannot suffer change, holding His condition always.
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
Malachi 3:6 in that, what is not born cannot suffer change, holding His condition always.
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
Moreover, He is Good, Always the Same, Immutable, One and Only, Infinite;
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Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Supporting witness
and He is unchangeable, because He is immortal.
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Numbers 23:19 Supporting witness
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
...ess is unlimited. Your excellence is everlasting. Your habitation is inaccessible. Your dwelling is unchangeable. Your knowledge is without beginning. Your truth is unchangeable. Your work is without assistants. Your dominion cannot be taken away. Your monarchy has no succession. Your kingdom has no end. Your strength is irresistible. Your army is very numerous. For You are the Father of wisdom, the Creator of creation, by a Mediator as the cause; the giver of providence, the giver of laws, the supplier of what is lacking, the punisher of the ungodly, and the rewarder of the righteous; the God and Father of Christ, and the Lord of those who are pious toward Him. Your promise cannot fail. Your judgment takes no bribes. Your purposes are unchangeable. Your piety is unceasing. Your thanksgiving is everlasting. Through Him, adoration is rightly due to You from every rational and holy nature.
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Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Supporting witness
...r and Lord Almighty, the completely perfect Creator of all things. In this section, among the other divine attributes, he also ascribes to Him—partly from reason and partly from the Holy Scriptures—immensity, eternity, unity, goodness, immutability, immortality, and spirituality. He adds that neither passions nor bodily members can be attributed to God, and that these things are said of God in Scripture only in an anthropopathic way.
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Supporting witness
...ther and Lord Almighty, the completely perfect Creator of all things. In this part, among the other divine attributes that he also gives to Him, partly from reason and partly from the Holy Scriptures, are immensity, eternity, unity, goodness, immutability, immortality, and spirituality. He also adds that passions and bodily members cannot be attributed to God, and that these things are said of God in Scripture only in an anthropopathic way.
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Didache, Connection to 1 Timothy 6:16 Background
who art above all corruption, free from all change, and invariable by nature; "who inhabitest light inaccessible; "
Did early Christians say God has no human passions like anger, fear, or grief?
The compiled sources often say God is free from anger, fear, grief, envy, desire, and similar passions. Some writers use this to contrast God with human weakness and to reject any claim that the divine nature is emotionally unstable like creatures.
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Tertullian, Against Praxeas Direct teaching
...esh and Man and the Son of Man, not in the sense that He was the Spirit and the Word and the Son of God. In short, since he says that it was Christ, that is, the Anointed One, who died, he shows us that what died was the nature that was anointed, in a word, the flesh. Very well, you say. Since we also state our doctrine in exactly the same terms that you use about the Son, we are not guilty of blasphemy against the Lord God. For we do not maintain that He died according to the divine nature, but only according to the human. No, but you do blaspheme, because you claim not only that the Father died, but that He died the death of the cross. For “cursed are they who are hanged on a tree,” Galatians 3:13. This curse, after the law, applies to the Son, since Christ has been made a curse for us, but certainly not to the Father. Since, however, you turn Christ into the Father, you are guilty of blasphemy against the Father. But when we say that Christ was crucified, we do not insult Him with a curse. We only repeat the curse pronounced by the law, Deuteronomy 21:23. Nor did the apostle speak blasphemy when he said the same thing as we do, Galatians 3:13. Besides, there is no blasphemy i
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Ignatius, Epistle to Polycarp (Long Version) Direct teaching
who was impassible as God, but became passible for our sakes as man;
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Ignatius, The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians (Long Version) Direct teaching
being impassible, He was in a passible body;
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Ignatius, Epistle to Polycarp (Short Version) Supporting witness
impalpable and impassible, yet who became passible on our account;
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
on whose account, in the conclusion of the world, He has sent His Son to become man for man's sake, and to undergo all human passions without sin.
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, A Sectional Confession of Faith Supporting witness
...tion of the world. And the Word of God, living on earth in human manner, also continued in the full divine presence, fulfilling all things, and being properly and individually united with flesh. And while the feelings proper to the flesh were present, the divine power kept the impassibility proper to itself. Therefore, the man who brings passibility into that power is impious. For the Lord of glory appeared in the form of a man when He undertook the divine arrangement on the earth. He fulfilled the law for men by His deeds, and by His sufferings He removed man's sufferings, and by His death He abolished death, and by His resurrection He brought life to light. And now we look for His appearing from heaven in glory, for the life and judgment of all, when the resurrection of the dead will take place, so that all may be repaid according to what they deserve.
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, A Sectional Confession of Faith Supporting witness
and while the sensibilities proper to the flesh were there, the divine energy maintained the impassibility proper to itself.
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, A Sectional Confession of Faith Supporting witness
Accordingly he says shortly: And while the affections of the flesh spring, the energy retains the impassibility proper to it.
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Methodius, Three Fragments on the Cross and Passion Supporting witness
For neither did the Passion cast Him down from His equanimity, nor did death hurt Him, but He was in the passible remaining impassible, and in the mortal remaining immortal, comprehending all that the air, and this middle state, and the heaven above contained, and attempering the mortal to the immortal divinity.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Supporting witness
..., and goodness are shown, as He both suffered and excused those who mistreated Him. For the Word of God, who told us, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who hate you," did this on the cross; loving humanity so much that He prayed for those killing Him. If anyone assumes there are two [Christs] and judges them, it will be found that the one who suffered, being compassionate amidst His wounds and wrongs, is truly the better, more patient, and good one than the one who fled and experienced neither harm nor insult.
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Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse Background
But when Scripture determines, as we have frequently shown, that He is not only God, but man also, it follows that what is immortal may be held to have remained uncorrupted.
More related quotations from this section 1 shown
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Dionysius of Alexandria, Exegetical Fragments Supporting witness
...dicated very well the swift turning and change that He underwent when He passed from His passion to impassibility, and from death to deathlessness, and from the place of one judged to that of one judging, and from subjection under the despot's power to the exercise of kingly dominion. And the sponge, as I think, signified the complete transfusion of the Holy Spirit that was realized in Him. And the reed symbolized the royal scepter and the divine law. And the hyssop expressed that quickening and saving resurrection of His by which He has also brought health to us. But we have gone through these matters in sufficient detail on Matthew and John. With the permission of God, we shall speak also of the account given by Mark. But for the present we will keep to what follows in our passage.
Common Questions
Did early Christians believe God could suffer?
They usually said God’s divine nature does not suffer, while Christ suffered in the flesh.
Which Bible verses did early Christians use for God’s unchanging nature?
Common passages include Malachi 3:6, Isaiah 40:28, Hebrews 6:18, and 1 Timothy 6:16.
Did early writers use the word impassible for God?
Yes. Writers like Clement, Tertullian, Origen, and Novatian use that kind of language.
Source Index for the Impassibility of God
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 275 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 167
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 108
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.